Peaceful Child

There have been so many successful and wonderful stories as a result of this blend of essential oils. There has even been a news story about it on MSN.

Peaceful Child Essential Oils Blend: Why.



Peaceful Child Essential Oils Blend: How.

Brain Development 101

I've received a lot of emails and questions regarding a post that I wrote earlier about a therapy program that I have on my daughter at home. For those who live in California, if you are interested, Donna Bateman will be coming in January to do a seminar. Attending this seminar would more clearly answer any questions you have. If you can come, it may be worth the $90 for you. At the seminar I attended, there were people from Sacramento who had driven up for the day. If you are interested in having your child evaluated, I would contact Donna to schedule that, or even just talk to her to get a feel for it all before even deciding if you want to go to the seminar. I'm just putting it out there for you all. Here is the flier that I received (a little altered to fit into a blog format here) from Patty Ezell (who is the contact person here in the Bay Area). Who knows? This could be what you're looking for...or you could think it's a load of hay. If you're on the fence about it, she comes to this area roughly every 6 months, and you can always call her or Patty...or me.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are ready to get back into the swing of things again! :)

Is Your Child Struggling With . . .

Hypersensitivity

Autism/Asperger’s

Inattentiveness

ADD/ADHD

Developmental Delay

Social Struggles

Learning Difficulties

Inappropriate Behavior

Anxiety

Motor Skills

Poor Eye Contact

Impulsiveness

We Invite You to Attend

Brain Development 101

Saturday, January 29 9 am to 5 pm

Community Church, 3536 Monroe Street, Santa Clara, CA., 95051-1419

Course Objectives: By the end of the seminar, you will understand:

* how a child learns

* the root cause of most learning problems

* the seven main areas of brain function

* the order in which the brain learns all functions

* the significant milestones of brain development

* how to support and stimulate the healthy development of the brain

* what you can do TODAY if a child is not developing properly in some area

* the joy of understanding a child and participating in their development & learning

Donna Bateman, Neurodevelopment Specialist and mother of eight children, will lead you through the Integrative & Developmental Progression Chart. Learn about the aspects of a child’s physical, emotional, social, and neurological development and your critical role.

For information and registration contact Patty Ezell at 408-362-9780 or patrealee@gmail.com Please bring a lunch for a “working” break.

Cost is $90 per couple (normally $125) which includes materials.

Donna can be reached at http://www.parentswithpurpose.com/

bingo and learning

brooke is sharp as a tack...her mind just works in a different way than some of us.

brooke has ADHD and although it doesn't define who she is or what she can do, she faces many challenges in school that the other kiddos in her class do not.

coupled with ADHD, brooke has hypermobility and sensory integration dysfunction...which in understandable terms means her body is like rubber {elasta-girl}. her joints don't feel like you and i...she can bend and move and do things that look like they really hurt, but for her, they don't. {if the circus needed a contortionist, she would def fit the bill}. ways that you and i feel our feet when we walk, brooke doesn't so much. her life is kinda like bouncing around in a moon walk...never really feeling anything.

all that put together, makes learning a challenge, especially speech and fine motor skills like cutting, writing, etc. so we are always looking for fun ways to get the work done while still keeping b engaged and making it fun.

enter....dino bingo!!!

colorful dino's, letters and sounds and a spinner make learning fun.

it's not just brooke that enjoys playing our games

...this one had a blast trying to move the dino's all over and cheat her way to "bingo!".

jada loves to be like big sis, brooke, and she gets to add to her learning as well!

anyway...game night around here sometimes has to be really creative, but we still have fun!

danyele @ a thorn among roses

if you have any questions, contact me here.

My Heart Shall Not Fear

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?....

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear...

Psalm 27: 1,3

The story of a child with Tourette Syndrome by his mother, Melissa, the Multi-Tasking Mama.



We have three children. JC is 15, J is 12 and M is 11. J and M live at home with us in Martinsburg, WV. JC currently lives in a residential treatment center in Philadelphia, PA.

JC is my husband’s son from his first marriage. We fought for two years to get custody of him and finally did so in March 1999. He had just turned six that same month. His biological mother's rights were terminated due to abuse and neglect.

We knew when JC came to live with us that he had behavioral issues. He had been in kindergarten when he lived with his biological mom and had been suspended for violent behavior. We thought that with psychological counseling these issues would be resolved. We did not know then what we would be up against.

When JC first came to us he continued with his acting out at school. I quickly became an IEP (Individualized Education Program) expert to get him access to the services that he needed, including behavior plans, social skills classes, etc. I also volunteered at his school two days a week so that I could be there to help his teacher.

When he was seven we noticed that he continually made this throat clearing noise. We had him evaluated for allergies, etc. His eyes would blink, his nose twitched, his legs would flail out, all seemingly involuntary. A doctor finally did an EEG and told us that JC had Tourette Syndrome. This, coupled with the trauma he had endured in his early years, explained the difficulties he was having at school. Learning difficulties and ADHD are frequently comorbid disorders with a primary diagnosis of Tourette’s.

Unfortunately, JC’s behaviors escalated both at school and at home. He was very physically aggressive with myself and our younger boys. He had a counselor from the day he came to live with us but we were all at a loss of how to cope with his violent outbursts. He also had issues with sleep - wetting the bed, night terrors, that type of thing.

When he was 10, we finally gave in and put him on medication. We had resisted because of all the scary side effects. The meds really did not seem to help, they had to keep being changed because on one med he was lethargic and the next med he was on a high. When the psychiatrist put him on an antidepressant, Jason attempted suicide. This led to his being diagnosed with bipolar. He had two inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations and too many outpatient partial hospitalizations to count.

The straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak was when he “attacked” his principal with a golf club and ran away from the school. He was only 10 ½ years old but the school still insisted that law enforcement become involved. The end result of their involvement was that in the 6th grade when Jason was 11 he was removed from our home by a judge’s order and placed in residential treatment in December of 2004.

This has been the most difficult time of our lives. We live in a rural area that afforded very little options for residential treatment. For the last four years, JC has lived at least two hours away. My husband and I travel to see him once a month and participate in family therapy sessions by phone due to the distance.

His removal from the home has elicited differing reactions from our two younger boys. The older one has had to work through a lot of resentment towards JC for the way he was treated. Our youngest was more affected by the absence of his oldest brother than the past. They have both had to be in counseling to address the impact all of this has had on them and our family as a whole.

My husband had a really difficult time at first because he felt guilty. He had divorced JC’s biological mother in 1995 due to her infidelity and returned to WV from another state. He had to work through feeling like JC wouldn’t be “this way” if he hadn’t left. Once God healed him of that, he was able to play a much larger role in helping me cope with having a special needs child and with making sure that our other boys didn’t slip through the cracks.

I coped by educating myself. I read every book on Tourette’s, bipolar and adopting a child with a history of abuse. I also attended every IEP, special education and advocacy conference I could get my hands on. I think that knowledge is power and in order to be the best mom I can be I needed to know how to advocate for him.

JC’s formal diagnoses’ include: Tourette Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. He has been on medications including Medadate CD, Abilify, Trazadone, Zoloft that were ineffective. His current medications are Clonidine (for his tics) and Depakote (for mood stabilization). He has been stable on those meds for about two years.

After JC was living in residential care out of our home we became a very isolated family. We were ashamed and felt inadequate that the judge had placed him elsewhere - even though all the social workers and even the judge himself commended our parenting. It was a very difficult situation to explain to people at church, etc. But one Saturday I was at my youngest son’s basketball game and there was a lady obviously having difficulty with her older son. My heart just resonated because I had been there. I had been called a B*&^% in public, 10 year old having a temper tantrum and having to leave an event. I went over and introduced myself and we (and our families) have been great friends ever since. She and her husband were the only people who understood what we were dealing with (until I became a blogger and discovered a world of support).

JC is in a residential treatment center about three hours from where we live. We write to him weekly, speak to him on the phone and visit him one time a month. Because of abuses perpetrated (I hate that word BTW) to his younger brothers the judge will not allow him to return to our home when he is discharged. So, his social worker and I are working to find a group home/foster home setting that is closer to home and where we can have increased visitation with him.


JC is very artistic. He is excellent at drawing and creating things out of legos. He especially enjoys origami. He likes music - Christian rap. He also plays video games, typical teen boy stuff. He is not much for physical activity. He also loves animals and is capable of being very loving and gentle with pets. He is a tall, handsome guy who looks a lot like his Daddy and he is so brave. He is doing what he needs to do to be discharged (it took him awhile to get with the program, so to speak) and we are so proud of him.

JC wants to be an architect when he grows up and says that he wants to live in NYC. We believe that he can be anything he wants to be and as his parents, no matter his address, we will support him in his dreams.

Our family is redefining what “normal” is. We are no longer ashamed and embarrassed. We would rather tell our story so that we can help others going through this. Children with emotional disorders (particularly attachment problems during the adoption process) exist and people need to know there are people out there who pray for those kids and their families. My husband and I are some of those people.

My advice to other parents is don’t isolate yourself. Advocate for your child - if the school system is being difficult, get an attorney. Attend every meeting (even if it is by phone) that has anything to do with your child and their treatment. Take notes, keep copies of EVERYTHING.

The reason I am so excited and supportive of KIDZ is that something I wish I had was a support group. As a parent of a child with behavioral issues, you feel very isolated and alone. Some friends didn’t understand and would think we weren’t parenting or disciplining him adequately. You have to learn to ignore that, pray and just do the best you can. No one knows how hard it is unless they have been in that situation of parenting a child that is atypical in anyway.

The book, The Bipolar Child, was very helpful. Also scriptures including Psalm 27, Psalm 68:5-6 and Isaiah 58. Cafemom.com has great support groups for mom’s with special needs kids- I have made a lot of friends on that site.